Architecture, Surfaces of Revolution
A common workflow for digital fabrication, and one most students of architecture are familiar with, involves developing a three-dimensional model in CAD software and then post-processing it for laser cutting, milling or three-dimensional printing. In this model the focus of the workflow is on the design of the object and the processes of fabrication are the means to an end. Another version of this process, is to design the work-flow in such a way that the techniques and strategies of fabrication are part of the design process and not a post processing solution. There is precedent for this in the history of architecture. The design of buildings in stone required complex orthographic projections often referred to as stereotomic projections. In some rare cases, architects worked directly with these drawing techniques in the design process. This directly linked the resolution of abstract geometries in stone to the design process. In this course students developed visual endabled themto design objects in relation to motion of our six axis Kuka robotic arm. Each group of students designed a column composed of four distinct student tool paths. Every tool path was designed as polyline without the intermediary step of surface modeling. The process foregrounded the methods of fabrication in the design process.